God Touched - 01 (26 page)

“Well, Inspector, jetting around the country is not an option for me.  I need to stay here in the city and work on those lines of communication we talked about.  Tatiana would insist on going with me and frankly, I don't want her anywhere near the feds.”

“Well, I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear that, although you should know that the Commissioner himself approved a significant pay raise for you.”

“Ah, thanks sir.” I said.  “Brian said that this Agent Duclair was kind of a thorn in our group's side.”

“Well, Briana is tough, that's for sure.  And a little too Machiavellian in her methods for my tastes, but she does want to protect her country.”

Sommers opened the door.  “Alright Chris, we're ready.”

I entered the darkened room, put on my safety glasses and hearing protection, checked my loaded mags and holstered gun and pronounced myself ready.  Takata gave the order to proceed and I slowly walked into the shoot zone.  This range was one hundred and fifty yards long, with popups all down its length.  Designed to look like a typical New York street at night, you simply walked toward the far end and engaged targets as they came.  The first pop up was a glaring vampire, but it didn't rush me so I held my fire.  After a second it popped back down out of sight.  The next was a fast rushing werewolf and I automatically gave it a burst of nine rounds, full automatic.  The rest were similar, with rushing vampires and charging weres, monsters holding human victims and even a flying vampire, although I hadn't heard from my vampires that flying was possible.

The simulation ended and the lights came up.  I walked back to the control station and all three officers were staring at me.  “How did I do?”

Roma spoke first.  “You failed. You froze up on the first target.”

“Ah, Inspector,
I didn't freeze.  It was a non-
attacking vampire, so I held my fire.”

He looked at me like I was crazy.  “Chris, they're all hostile.  You have to engage them all.  If you had left it behind you, it could have come up and killed you anytime while you were engaged with the rest of them.”

“Sir, with all due respect, I can't go around shooting every vampire or were I see, or I'll be declaring war on the supernatural community.  And a lot of them snarl from time to time.  It would be like shooting a human that yelled or swore.”

He started to disagree, then stopped himself and thought about it for a moment. He nodded slowly. “I get your point.”  The implications of the simulation were sinking in on all three of them.  Without really thinking about it, they had created a training program that taught the squad to shoot any and all supernaturals on sight.  It made me realize just how little contact the team had with actual vampires and weres.  I needed to correct that as soon as I could, or there would be a real bad incident in the future.

“What did you think of the rest of the simulation?” Sommers asked.

“Well, honestly, it's kinda slow.  Most weres and vampires move faster than that.  Older vampires move
a lot
faster.”

They looked at me a little stunned.  Finally, Roma asked a question. “How was his shooting?”

Takata answered from the control station. “One hundred percent on accuracy. Reaction time...I'm going to have to recheck, because the numbers look ...unreal.”

What can I say, I got carried away with the simulation.

“Go ahead and recheck them, but I think you'll find that they are real.”  Roma turned and addressed me. “Chris, your reflexes appear to be outside human normal.  Any thoughts?”

I shrugged, not willing to go down that road.

“Hmm, I suppose we should just lump it in with the
rest of your unusual quirks,”
he said.

He seemed a little too willing to ignore my lapse of control, but then he might not want to upset me into jumping to the federal team either.

“What do you think fellas, are you done with him for the day?”

The two tactical operations officers looked at each other and then nodded. 

“Okay, I'm gonna take him back to the offices, while you guys lock down the range.”

I thanked them for the shooting and followed the Inspector back to the squad offices.  Oliv
i
a smiled at me as we walked through and into the conference room.  “Ah sir, I was wondering if it might be a good idea for me to see about introducing the team to a couple of my..ah..friends?”

He didn't answer immediately, but then nodded.  “I for one would like to meet Galina Demidova if possible.”

“She doesn't like me much, but her boss seems to.  I'll ask Tatiana what she thinks.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “You say that like you're talking about someone you met at church or a cocktail party or something.  Wait a minute, did you say 'her boss'?”

“Yeah, Galina is a little young to be running a coven.  She holds her position because of some special circumstances.  But like all of the vampires, she answers to an Elder.  Her Elder likes me...I think.”

“Is one of the special circumstances named Tatiana?” he guessed.

I didn't want to answer, but he read my expression and nodded to himself.  “I thought it was something like that.  We hear enough to know that your girlfriend holds some special spot in the vampire hierarchy.  Care to explain?”

“Not really sir.  I'm not sure I fully understand it all myself.  I'll know more after tonight.  Big party for Tatiana at club Plasma.  Her birthday and Halloween and all that.”

“How is it that she has a birthday?” he asked.

“That, Sir, is the best question that you've asked so far.”

We were standing in the conference room, and just then the door opened behind us and Olivia came in with a plate of cupcakes, one of which had a candle in it.  Gina, Fran and Chet all appeared in the doorways of their respective offices and called out, almost in unison, “Happy birthday!”

It was extremely awkward and Roma looked more surprised than I felt, but
it
had been a long time since anyone other than Gramps had acknowledged my birthday.  It was an absurdly pleasant feeling.  I blew out the candle before anyone could start singing and we all grabbed a cupcake.  Olivia explained, “I happened to notice your birthdate in your personnel file and mentioned it to Gina.  The local bakery only had cupcakes, but they're very cakey.”

“Thanks, I, ah , I haven't had a group birthday thing since I was eight.” 

They all looked at me like that was the most pitiful thing they had ever heard.

“Well, if we had known there was a party, we wouldn't have left,” a voice said from the open doorway to Olivia's office.  A tall blonde woman dressed in a dark suit stood in the doorway with a sardonic smile on her face and a really large dark haired man
loomed
behind her.  Her eyes looked me over from head to toe in stark appraisal.  She was attractive, but she gave off a serious 'don't screw with me' attitude.

Roma recovered after a moment, a frown flickering across his face.

“Agent Duclair, I didn't expect to see you again quite so soon.”  His voice was cold.

“Oh you know how it is Martin, forgotten questions that you suddenly remember.  We were still in the building so I thought I would pop back in to ask them in person.” She hadn't taken her eyes off me the whole time and there was something smugly triumphant in her expression.  “But I see you have a new team member who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting.  Hi, I'm Special Agent Briana Duclair, Homeland Security -- ,” she advanced with her hand out, “-- and you are?”

“Chris Gordon, ma'am” I automatically shook her hand.  Her grip was strong and forceful, like a man's would be.  The rest of my squad had sour expressions and Olivia looked angry, like her space had been violated, which in a manner of speaking it had.

“Shame on you Martin!  You never told me you had a new member of your little squad.  And such a handsome one at that.”  Now she was making fun of the team and me in one shot. I stepped back a pace from her in annoyance.  Her right eyebrow raised slightly as she took in my expression and I had the sinking feeling I had another 'facial coding' expert on my hands.  Gina Vel
as
quez had a blank look on her face and I realized she was wearing her poker face.  I glanced at the big man who had moved into the doorway when Agent Duclair had stepped forward.  He would be Eric Adler, I figured.  About six four or six five, probably two hundred and thirty pounds, short brown hair and pale gray eyes that focused like lasers on me.  Takata and Sommers entered the outer office behind him and he swung back to put his back to the wall, watching them like a bodyguard in hostile territory. Both officers went on point like attack dogs and you could feel the tension ratchet up immediately.   Duclair ignored all that and continued to appraise me.  “So Officer Gordon, what is your specialty?  Psychic?  Clairvoyant?”  she asked.

I could feel Gina and the Inspector tighten up at the question, but I had an answer ready.

“I'm a tracker, ma'am.”

“A tracker?” she said, a frown flashing across her face.

“Yes ma'am.  Born and raised in the Adirondacks.  Worked with Search and Rescue.  My gramps trained me, ma'am.”   I sounded like a hick.  A slow
-
witted hick.  The big guy in the doorway snorted his opinion of my statement.  The light of victory in Agent Duclair's eyes dimmed a little as she took in my statement, the truth of which was written on my face.

“A tracker.  Martin why the hell would you put a tracker on the team?” she turned, bewildered, to the Inspector.

“Why Briana, Gordon here already proved his worth at the Park with those Hancers.  It's amazing the way he can recreate the crime timeline from tracks.” Roma answered, swiftly recovering.

The big guy in the door swiveled his head like a tank turret, his eyes once more locked on me. “You're the one in the youtube video.  You took down the last perp when he broke his cuffs.” he stated, his voice deep.  Now it was his turn to appraise me, but I recognized the gaze as one fighter evaluating another.  Apparently he wasn't impressed, because he snorted again and went back to watching Sommers and Takata watch him.

Duclair still looked bewildered by the tracker stuff and Gina chose that moment to intervene.  “Well, if the introductions are out of the way, I need to talk to Chris about his previous evaluations.”

She pointed at her door like I was a new and somewhat slow student on the first day of school.  I took her cue and slipped into her office.  She closed the door behind me and then shuttered the blinds on the window into the conference room.  She turned to me, let out a breath of relief and smiled.

“That was fast thinking Chris.  And you did it without lying.”

I shrugged.  “I had the creepy feeling that she could read micro expressions like you do.”

She nodded. “Briana and I were in the same class.  She can pick up a lie in a heartbeat.  But I'm afraid you have only bought us some time.  She's smart.  She'll think about it, do some digging, look at your files and know you
’
r
e
not just a tracker.  But you did throw her for a loop.  That's not something that very many people can lay claim to.”

“Brian felt that I was the reason she was nosing around here in the first place,” I said.

“And did he tell you what she would do if she found you?”

I nodded. “Yeah, offer me a job and a big fat raise.”

She looked surprised.  “You aren't interested in her job offer?”

“Well, from what I understand, they cover the whole country.  That kinda of travel would be difficult in my situation.”

She smiled.  “I hadn't thought of that.  Would Tatiana be upset?”

“Well, not if she went with me. But that would stir up the all the vampires.  And if she couldn't go with me, she would just follow on her own.”

“Well, stirring up all the vampires in the city should be avoided,” she smiled again.

“No Gina, I mean, it would stir up ALL the vampires, everywhere.  Tatiana is the Prodigal Daughter, so to speak.  I haven't yet met a vampire that didn't either want to worship her or want to control her.”

Her eyes got wider and wider as I spoke.

“That puts you in a tough spot, doesn't it.”

“Well, it makes me unpopular with the ones that want to control her.  As if I needed that.  I already have problems with vampires as it is.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, apparently, I'm particularly attractive to most vampires.”

“I can understand the females, but males too?”

“Huh?  I smell good to all vampires, something about AB blood types.  What were you talking about?”

She studied me for a moment, surprised.

“You really don't see yourself very well, do you?”

“If you mean, do I know that I'm a freak, then the answer is yes.  Most people figure something is wrong with me when they see my eyes.”

She smiled again, shaking her head.  “No Chris, you're really far off the mark.  Most
women
don't see you as a freak, they see you as hot.”

I frowned, not sure what my body temperature had to do with it.  Then an alternative meaning to her words hit me.  “Ah, no, I think you made a mistake, people have always been weirded out by my eyes.”